Leighton Students Get Early Look At Career Choices

OSWEGO, NY – Butcher, Baker and Candlestick maker; only the baker was represented among the a plethora of other local careers visiting Leighton Elementary School on Wednesday afternoon to share their expertise with students.

The elementary students could meet people representing a wide variety of professions, including dentist, firefighter, police officer, welder, restaurateur and youth director.

It was designed for students in grades four through six.

“We wanted this to be informational and enjoyable for our students,” said Jessica Leonard, a fourth grade classroom teacher who helped facilitate the event. “All participants are volunteering their time. Two of the participants even took the day off from work to participate.”

The students received note cards with the student’s three rotations listed.

Each rotation lasted 20 minutes in order to give students enough time to meet with all representatives they were interested in.

“It’s a career slash fair day for students,” sixth grader Emma Armet said. “We’re learning about careers we’re interested in.”

“People from different jobs come here and they tell you about their job and what they do,” sixth grader Miah Metott explained. “We pick the ones we want to go to and learn about.”

“I picked YMCA, military and veterinarian,” Aurora Baker said.

“I really want to be a veterinarian because I really love helping animals,” the sixth grader added.

“I picked police office, restaurant manager and a nurse,” Emma said.

She already had her sights set on a career.

“When I was a little bit younger, I wanted to start my own restaurant,” Emma told Oswego County Today. “I wanted to start it in that old railroad building that is falling apart across from PJ’s.”

“I picked YMCA, nurse and youth director,” Miah said, hinting that she might follow in her mother’s footsteps.

She said she’d like to be a veterinarian as well – but “The next best thing would probably be youth director. My mom used to be a youth director and she brought me along to all the events she helped out at.”

Each student had three information sheets stapled together.  They filled one out at each station.

Participants were asked to address the students’ specific questions first during their presentation and then move on to question and answer sessions with the students as time allowed.

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